Polychromatic watch dial plate

ABSTRACT

A polychromatic watch dial plate wherein either on the surface of the dial plate or on the figure portion is coated with a liquid crystal film so that the dial plate or the figure portion may have a variety of colors according to the change of the ambient temperature.

United States Patent 1191 [111 3,763,%7 Shibanai Get 9, W73

[5 POLYCHROMATIC WATCH DIAL PLATE 3,440,882 4/1969 Jones 73/3563,570,239 3/ 1971 Charles 58/152 R [75] Invent Japan 3,253,466 5/1966Chough 58/152 R x [73] Assignee: Kyoshin Sangyo Ltd"T0kyo PrimaryExaminer-Richard B. Wilkinson Japan Assistant Examiner-Edith SimmonsJackmon [22] Fil d; S 22 1972 Attorney-Eric H. Waters et al. 21 Appl.No.: 291,839 [571' ABSTRACT A polychromatic watch dial plate whereineither on [52] US. Cl. 58/127 R, 58/152 R, 73/356 .the surface of thedial plate or on the figure portion is [51] Int. Cl. G04b 19/06 coatedwith a liquid crystal film so that the dial plate [58] Field of Search58/127 R, 152 R, or the figure portion may have a variety of colors ac-58/152 A, 50 R; 73/356 cording to the change of the ambient temperature.

3 References Cited Claims, 3 Drawing igures UNITED STATES PATENTS3,505,804 4/1970 Hofstein 58/23 R 1- POLYCI'IROMATIC WATCH DIAL PLATEThe present invention relates to a decorative watch and, moreparticularly to a polychromatic dial plate of a watch.

I-Ieretofore, a luminous paint coating has been applied on the pointersand the figures of a watch so that even in the dark the user can read acorrect time. However, such a coating is used for that purpose only andhas no decorative or magic effects. Also, there have been manydecorative dial plates with beautiful and colorful designs and some ofthem are polychromic but none of them become polychromatic according totemperature variations. In other words, they only become polychromic dueto the visual angle of the viewer, or to the effect of light and shade,or the like. On the contrary, the dial plate according to the presentinvention employs a liquid crystal film coating on the dial plate,either on the plate surface or on the firgure portion, and the liquidcrystal film having characteristic of exhibiting a variety of colorsaccording to the change of the ambient temperature or of the body heatof the user, gives rise to an excellent decorative and magic effect tothe viewer, in addition to the normal function of the watch.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a decorativeand magic watch having a-polychromatic dial plate which exhibits avariety of colors according to the change of the ambient temperature.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a decorative andmagic watch having a polychromatic dial plate wherein the surface of thedial plate excluding the figure portion is coated with a liquid crystalfilm so that the dial plate may have a variety of colors according tothe change of the ambient temperature.

Still another object of the present invention is to provide a decorativeand magic watch having a polychromatic dial plate wherein the figureportion excluding the surface of the dial plate is coated with a liquidcrystal film so that the figure portion may have a variety of colors incontrast to the surface of the dial plate according to the change of theambient temperature.

The present invention will now be explained in detail by way of example,with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 shows a plain view of a watch dial plate according to the presentinvention;

FIG. 2 shows a vertical sectional view taken from A-A line of FIG. l inwhich a liquid crystal film is coated on the surface of the dial plateexcluding the figure portion; and

FIG. 3 shows a vertical sectional view taken from A-A' line of FIG. I inwhich a liquid crystal film is coated only on the figure portion.

Referring to FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, a polychromatic watch dial plateaccording to the present invention roughly consists ofa dial plate I, afigure portion generally denoted by numeral 2, pointers 3, a watch frame4 and a front glass 5.

Referring to FIG. 2, the surface of the dial plate 11, with theexception of the figure portion 2, is coated with a liquid crystal film6. The figure portion 2 is made of, or drawn with, a material different,in color, from the liquid crystal film 6 so that both the crystal filmapplied portion and the non-applied portion on the dial plate I can beclearly distinguished from each other by color. On the contrary, asshown in FIG. 3, the liquid crystal film 6 may be applied only on thefigure portion 2. In this case, the surface of the dial plate 1 is ofcourse made of a material different, in color, from the liquid crystalfilm 6. In either case the entire surface is then covered by atransparent synthetic resin film 7 to protect the liquid crystal film 6from damages.

The above described construction according to the present invention hasthe advantage that the user can enjoy a polychromic and magic beauty ashe encounters various external temperature conditions.

What I claim is:

1. A polychromatic watch dial face plate with a liquid crystal filmcoating for varying the color of the dial face as a function of theambient temperature, said dial face displaying a predetermined singlecolor corresponding to a predetermined temperature, whereby the color ofthe dial face is indicative of the ambient temperature.

2. A polychromatic watch dial face plate as defined in claim 1 whereinsaid liquid crystal film coating is only on the dial face plate, thecharacter portions of said dial face plate being free of said coating,so that said dial face changes colors with change in the abmienttemperature.

3. The polychromatic watch dial face plate as defined in claim 3 whereinsaid liquid crystal film coating is only on the character portions ofsaid dial face, so that said character portions only change color withchange in ambient temperature.

1. A polychromatic watch dial face plate with a liquid crystal filmcoating for varying the color of the dial face as a function of theambient temperature, said dial face displaying a predetermined singlecolor corresponding to a predetermined temperature, whereby the color ofthe dial face is indicative of the ambient temperature.
 2. Apolychromatic watch dial face plate as defined in claim 1 wherein saidliquid crystal film coating is only on the dial face plate, thecharacter portions of said dial face plate being free of said coating,so that said dial face changes colors with change in the ambienttemperature.
 3. The polychromatic watch dial face plate as defined inclaim 1 wherein said liquid crystal film coating is only on thecharacter portions of said dial face, so that said character portionsonly change color with change in ambient temperature.